The sale of promotional products, also called advertising specialties, has traditionally been practiced as a broker-customer relationship where a commissioned broker presents, in-person, various product lines and decoration choices to a customer. For example, a customer may call a broker in regards to promoting their company at a client appreciation golf tournament. The broker presents the customer with various products, i.e., hats, shirts, mugs, etc., which can be decorated using selected decorative technologies, i.e., embroidery, silk-screening, etc. For example, the customer may select a green polo shirt with the intention that it be decorated with company logo, graphic, name, or other text or symbol using, for example, black embroidery above the shirt pocket. The broker then facilitates the coordination among the customer, product vendor, and decorators to supply the requested customized product in the time required by the customer.
Due to the large number of product manufacturers and decorators, the broker usually carries a selected product line from various manufacturers, and utilizes a selected group of decorators to apply the necessary decoration to the product. The customer, therefore, is presented a limited group of products and limited options for decorating the products. Moreover, when choosing the product, the customer generally is looking at catalog images or samples that are blank—that is, that are undecorated, or that are decorated with some design intended to be representative of a “typical” decorated product. In these instances, the customer is left to imagine the appearance of the decorated product, or must imagine their particular decorative logo used to decorate the product, until after placing an order and waiting to see a produced and decorated product. Thus, typically, the customer usually does not see the final product until it arrives. Furthermore, until the product arrives, the customer must depend upon the broker to ensure the order is delivered on time and appears as was anticipated.